Higher dividends on the way

Article Excerpt

CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $24 is a buy. The country’s third-largest oil producer (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $45.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cenovus.com) plans to spend between $4.5 billion and $5.0 billion on exploration and upgrades in 2024. Annual spending will then fall to between $3.5 billion and $4.0 billion starting 2026 through 2028. These investments should lift projected annual output from 790,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2024 to between 900,000 and 950,000 barrels a day by the end of 2028. Cenovus also expects its annual cash flow will rise about 50% to $6.0 billion in 2028. The company plans to return much of that cash flow to shareholders. Right now, it allocates 50% of its free cash flow (after capital expenditures) to dividends and share buybacks. The current annual dividend rate of $0.56 a share yields 2.3%. Once its net debt (total debt less cash balances) is…